A different Q&A with Joubert...ABA style!
So with Mike Rothstein's article today about Antoine Joubert, it jogged my memory to a few years back when I was working on the student newspaper at UM-Dearborn.
I did an interview piece with Joubert because he was coaching a local ABA team that was playing their home games on the UM-D campus. Growing up a huge Michigan basketball fan, I was pretty excited to meet him and was surprised to see Willie Mitchell (!) at the team's practices...he was lightly jogging while the rest of the team ran full sprints.
Anyway, here's a link for anyone who wants to read about The Judge and his former Jheri curls...
http://media.www.themichiganjournal.com/media/storage/paper255/news/200…
February 10th, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^
He seems like a good character. In the early '80s, though, he might have been a basketball version of Kevin Grady (man among boys at the high school level without high D-1 grades in any category). I think he was a national recruit and a big catch for Michigan at the time.
I understand that he had a few big scoring games that were similar to Grady's Delaware State game. Just not destined to be a future pro... I have to believe that, inappropriate coaching aside (hello, Bill), any innate star ability would have eventually allowed him to make "the league." Recent examples of note are Courtney Sims and Chris Hunter. Maceo Baston, too, if you want to go back a few years...
February 11th, 2010 at 8:06 AM ^
In a basketball sense, Bill Frieder ruined Joubert's career at UM. Joubert's best shooting range was about two or three steps over the centerline, but Frieder wouldn't let him shoot from there. I watched all of his HS playoff games except the semis, and he averaged over forty points with, IIRC, no three-point line. Most of his shots would have been three-pointers now.
Once Frieder got ahold of Joubert, he would start to take his natural shot, realize that he wasn't allowed to, do a little fake and dribble-drive and then clang one from a range that wasn't really his most effective one. Frieder's misuse of Joubert was the absolute worst job I have ever seen of coaching a player in any sport, except maybe Frieder's total ignorance of Roy Tarpley's obvious drug problem.
I'm just happy that things are going well for Joubert now. He went to class, got his degree, and is putting it to good use. I just wish it had turned out differently for him on the court; Antoine Joubert really deserved better than what he got from Frieder.
February 11th, 2010 at 12:06 AM ^
Atwan was a good college player. He was not quick enough or have the range for an NBA guard. Nor was he big enough for the 3 spot. He was pretty deadly at an open 15 footer and often could get off an runna, especially if he was being guarded by a smaller player as he was 6'5". Much like Jalen of the fab 5, he was not the best player on the team, but often the glue that kept things from flying apart.